What started as a roving outlaw barbecue food party has settled into a food trailer home on Austin's East Side: Micklethwait Craft Meats is the best barbecue in Austin you never heard of. Owner and pit boss Tom Micklethwait is doing Texas barbecue the old fashioned way: hand grinding and stuffing his sausage, building post oak fires and slowly smouldering his meats til they're good and ready. Micklethwait makes everything from scratch. We ran by earlier today and had sliced pork shoulder and kielbasa hot links (the brisket wasn't going to be ready til 4pm) The pork was approaching the melting point but still had a good chew. The brawny hot links were divine. Perfectly seasoned and needing nothing; neither sauce nor salt. Unbelievable. A big plate of meat was $6.50. You can buy your meats at $13 per pound or get plates starting at $8. Sandwiches are $6. Expect daily sausage specials as the pit boss experiments with his grinder/extruder. He's making duck tomorrow, for example. Micklethwait Craft Meats is located behind Hearts & Robots Hair Studio, a stone's throw east of East End Wines. pic: http://www.scrumptiousche...cklethwait-Craft-Meats

Perhaps, with Austin's population now just under 1.8 million there's still plenty room for good smoked meat. And any place in town that cares enough about their food to make their sausage from scratch is always going to see a register bulging with greenbacks.

Bad part: brisket is only available for supper. I normally only eat bbq at lunchtime, it's just how I was raised. Will report back if I can make it down there for pm service.